Cassie's POV

"If you skip out on your bail and I lose my money, I'm gonna hunt you down and skin you" My dad threatens John B as we walk out of the police station.

"Dad!" I whine.

"Cut it" He tells me sternly and I shut my mouth.

"Thank you, Mr. C" John B says gratefully.

"Don't thank me!" My dad snaps angrily.

We reach the car and I turn to John B reaching into my pocket.

"Get in!" My dad yells.

"Give me a second!" I yell back.

I turn to John B and hold out his compass. He takes it and a sad frown makes it's way onto his face.

"You're gonna be good, Johnathan" I assure him and he nods.

"Cassandra!" My dad barks.

"Sorry" I mumble, getting into the car.

My dad turns to me and I look down at my lap.

"I've told you and Kiara repeatedly. You hang out with trash, you get dirty" My dad states.

☁️☁️☁️

As I lay curled up on the sofa, a blanket wrapped around me, someone knocks on the front door.

"Come in!" I yell.

Pope walks in and smiles at me warmly.

"John B's got another idea on what Redfield means" The boy tells me.

"I'm not interested, Pope" I sigh.

"You don't want to come?" He asks in confusion.

"No" I answer.

"Oh, okay" He shrugs and hesitantly exits my house.

Seconds later, my door is opened again and I see John B.

"Um...Hey, uh, what-what are you doin'?" He asks curiously as he walks towards me.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" I retort.

"Napping can wait, Cassandra. We're about to make history" He tells me.

"Are you concocting again?" I ask with a huff as I pull myself off the sofa.

"Yes. Yes, I'm concocting. I'm concocting more than i've ever concocted in my life" He rushes out, following me as I walk upstairs "Look, I know you're just being a good friend, and- and I know you're not trying to enable me in my delusion. And I know your dad doesn't want you to see me, but listen to me, please"

Just as I reach my bed, John B grabs my arms and spins me around to face him.

"Look, you are my best friend, and I need you right now. And I'm sorry about the kiss thing. That was super weird, and I feel awkward about it, and...Listen, I need you and I'm begging. I am begging you. I am begging you. And I just want to talk for-" I cut the boy off.

"Oh, my God! Shut up!" I groan.

"What?" He replies in confusion.

"I get it" I assure him, pecking his cheek "Friends?"

"Friends. Yeah" He confirms and I smile softly.

"Back in the friend zone" He mumbles to himself but I hear it and I roll my eyes, punching his shoulder.

"Let me get changed" I huff, pushing him out my room and slamming the door shut.

I hear him chuckle on the other side and smile to myself as I change into some black skinny jeans with ripped knees and a white long sleeved off the shoulder crop top before throwing on a pair of white Air Force 1s.

 I throw my curls into a high ponytail and head downstairs, hopping into the van. My sister gives me a smile and JJ wraps an arm around my shoulders as I sit down next to him. John B starts up the van and heads off.

"You mind if I just relax on this one? It's been a long day, and a lot of weird stuff's gone down. I'm just gonna lay low" JJ announces, taking a hit of his joint.

"Oh, did you want a hit of this?" The blonde asks Pope.

"I keep the signal clear" Pope states.

"Boring" I sing, snatching the joint from JJ and taking a long drag.

"Dude, okay. Do you understand that your problem is that you don't get creative? If you got creative, then-" JJ's rant to Pope is cut off by John B.

"Look, I- I know I was wrong about the lighthouse, all right?" John B blurts out "And pretty much wrong about everything else going on. But I was right about one thing! Okay? My dad is trying to tell me something"

The brunette goes silent and I look between Pope and JJ who both have looks much like my own, filled with worry.

The van eventually stops and we all climb out, grabbing flashlights before following John B into the cemetery.

"Come on. Hey, come on" He rushes us to keep up with him.

"I'm coming" Kiara snaps.

"This place is scary" I mumble and my sister grabs my hand, obviously also feeling a little scared.

"John B, what are we doing?" She asks the boy.

"Shut up" He huffs in reply.

"Okay, so you know how you're trying to remember a song and you can't remember who sings it?" He asks.

"Yeah, like that time JJ couldn't remember who sang 'eye of the tiger' so he said it was ABBA" I answer with a laugh and JJ pokes me in the ribs.

"You promised we'd put that behind us!" The blonde hisses in embarrassment.

"But it's so funny, J" I giggle.

"Guys, back to me!" John B declares and we all listen.

"So, Redfield. This whole time I thought it was a place, right? But it's not a place. It's a person" He explains, stopping at a crypt with the name Redfield on the front.

"Voi-effing-là" JJ declares.

"See, my great-great-grandmother Olivia Redfield. That was her maiden name" John B elaborates.

"Good ol' Livy Redfield" I comment with a small smile on my face.

"Help me with the door" John B says, walking towards the crypt "Come on"

"All right" Pope sighs, helping the brunette "One, two, three..."

"Go" Kiara nudges JJ forward.

"Are you pushing?" Pope groans.

"Yeah, I'm pushing" John B grunts.

"Come on" Pope huffs.

"Hold on. I got it" JJ buts in.

"This door is like 700 pounds, man. It's not gonna budge" Pope scoffs.

"We didn't come this far to get this far, all right?" JJ snaps.

"Very inspiring, JJ" I speak up.

"Thank you, Cassie" He replies.

Suddenly a loud hiss makes all the boys jump back and I shriek, jumping onto the nearest person to me which happens to be Pope.

"Holy shit!" I screech, clinging to Pope's back like a koala.

"A snake!" JJ exclaims.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Pope rushes out, backing up from the snake.

"That's a moccasin, all right. Ye olde Dr. Cottonmouth. Death in tall grass" JJ speaks as if he's in an animal documentary before barking loudly.

"JJ, shut up! Shut up!" Kiara shrieks at the boy.

"You're gonna wake the dead, man" Pope declares as I slip off his back, giving him a grateful smile to which he shrugs with a small smile.

"Dude, they're afraid of dogs. Everyone knows that, man" JJ states matter of factly.

"Wait, hold on" He adds, grabbing John B's shoulder.

"What?!" John B and Kiara huff in unison.

"If there's one, there's probably dozens" JJ states "All around us"

"JJ, stop it. You're scaring me" I whine and Kiara nods in agreement.

The blonde starts barking again and I slap his arm with a glare.

"Stop barking at the snakes" John B scolds him.

"Look, John- " Pope is cut off by JJ.

"I'm just making sure it's clear" JJ huffs.

"Shut up!" Pope snaps at the blonde before turning to John B "John, look. We're not gonna get in there, all right? It's not budging. We should probably just go"

"I can get through" Kiara states and I look at where she's shining her flashlight to see a hole that only Kiara or I could fit through.

"What?" John B asks in confusion.

"No, no, no, no. You think you're gonna fit through the hole? That hole?" John B asks in disbelief.

"Really, either of us can go through the hole" I shrug nonchalantly.

"There's probably snakes inside" My sister reminds me.

"Yeah, you can go through the hole" I say, taking a step towards the boys.

"Look, this is about your dad" Kiara tells John B "And honestly, I really don't believe in it, but you deserve to know the truth. I'll do it"

"I'll get those" JJ says pulling at the vines with Kiara.

"Can you help me with that?" She asks us and we all grab vines, pulling them away from the hole.

"You got it?" Kiara asks as the boys and I pull back the vines.

"Yeah" We all say in unison.

"Yeah, we got it" Pope adds.

"Give her a boost, dumbass" I huff, elbowing JJ who stumbles towards my sister.

"I'm gonna boost you, all right? I've seen it in the movies several times. Ready?" JJ explains and I roll my eyes.

"Remind me what we're looking for" Kiara speaks up.

"You'll know when you see it" John B replies.

"Always so damn vague, Johnathan" I grumble and he steps on my foot.

I gasp and elbow him in the ribs. He grunts in pain and I grin triumphantly, holding my hand out to Pope who high fives me.

"Hold my flashlight" Kiara tells me, handing me it.

"All right, so put your hands right there" JJ instructs my sister, tapping his shoulders.

"Yep" She nods.

"Your foot" He says, tapping his knee and she listens "All right, on three"

"All right" Kiara sighs.

"One, two-" Before the boy can say three, my sister launches herself into the hole and I snort at the surprised look on JJ's face.

"Okay, never mind. Just forget about three" JJ grumbles.

"I got it" Kiara assures us, jumping down inside the crypt "Okay, flashlight?"

"Yeah, here" I chirp, putting my arm into the hole.

She takes the flashlight from me and I take a step back away from the crypt, dusting myself off.

"You alive? You got, like, a- a heartbeat and everything?" John B asks.

"So far" Kiara's voice echoes back.

"That's good. That's good" John B nods.

"Yep" She replies "Uh...I need some more light"

"Yeah, yeah, here. Yeah, I gotcha" John B mumbles, holding a lantern at the hole so the light shines inside.

"Did you find something?" JJ asks impatiently.

"Is there gold?" Pope adds.

"Will you two dummies give her a minute?" I groan, slapping them both upside the head.

"Oh, my God" My sister gasps and I rush forward.

"Are you okay?! Kie, what happened?!" I whisper yell into the hole and she passes me an envelope.

"That's not gold" Pope sighs.

I look down at the FedEx envelope and see it has the words 'For BIRD' on the front. I pass it to John B who looks down at it in awe as Kie climbs out of the crypt.

"Holy shit. This is from my dad" John B tells us and we all share excited smiles.

"Code red. Code red. Square groupers! Square groupers!" JJ warns us and we all run to the side of the crypt collapsing against the stone wall.

I peek around the corner and I'm pulled back.

"It's the guys who shot you" JJ hisses, pushing me towards Kiara.

"Light! Light!" We all start muttering as we switch off all the lights.

"Turn your light off, man!" Pope huffs, turning off JJ's head light as the blonde was too busy putting out his joint on the stone wall.

"John B? Your light!" Kiara snaps at the brunette.

"Do you think it's them?" I mumble worriedly as JJ and Pope peek around the crypt.

"Homie's got a gun" JJ comments.

"Screw this" Kiara declares, standing up and running.

We all get up and sprint after her. We reach the wall and I grab the top, throwing myself over it. I hit the ground on the other side with a thud and Kiara pulls me up with a worried expression on her face.

"I'm good. I'm okay" I assure her, dusting off my jeans.

"Okay, let's got" She replies, grabbing my arm.

"Hurry up!" I hear JJ yell.

"Guys! Guys! Guys, I'm stuck!" Pope panics and I turn to see he's caught his shorts on the fence.

"Shit" I curse.

"Pope, come on, man!" JJ shouts.

"I got you" Kiara huffs, running over to the boy.

"Pope, don't move, okay?" JJ demands and I turn my head to see him pointing the gun at Pope.

"Are you out of your damn mind?!" I shriek, grabbing his arm and pulling it down.

"Wait. You're gonna rip me!" Pope yells.

"You're fine. Come on!" Kiara assures him.

A loud ripping sound is heard and Pope falls off the fence. He gets up and I wince as he runs, covering his crotch in embarrassment.

"Nice! Come on, dude!" JJ laughs "It's a little Tootsie Roll!"

A laugh leaves my lips as we all pile into the van, laughing loudly as John B turns on the engine and speeds off towards the chateau.

☁️☁️☁️

"That bread had mould on it three days ago" I hear Pope say and I turn to see JJ spreading peanut butter onto mouldy bread.

"I'll just pull off the bad parts. Plus, mould is good for you. It's just a natural organism" JJ says matter of factly.

"That's disgusting, JJ" I gag.

"JJ! Cassie!" Kiara calls out.

"Yup, yup, yup! Hot damn! Let's do it" JJ hollers and I follow behind him into the living room, rolling my eyes at the boy.

John B rips open the envelope just as JJ gags loudly, spitting his mouldy bread into his hand.

"Thought it was good for you, Maybank?" I ask smugly and he glares at me, throwing the sandwich into the bin.

"Shut up, Carrera" He grumbles, grabbing me in a head lock.

I manage to push him off me just in time to see John B open up a map.

"Holy shit" The brunette mumbles.

"Wow" I murmur quietly.

"Oh. X marks the spot" Pope states, pointing at the X on the map.

"Longitude, latitude" John B shows us "Wait, there's somethin' else in there"

John B pulls a tape recorder out of the envelope and my eyes widen.

"What's that?" JJ asks.

"It's a tape recorder" Kiara answers.

"Dumbass" I add and he elbows me.

John B presses play and Big John's voice plays loudly through the tape recorder.

"Dear Bird" Big John starts.

"Who's Bird?" JJ asks in confusion.

"That's what my dad called me" John B answers.

Big John speaks into the tape recorder to his son, telling him about how he's found the gold but if he finds this tape it most likely means he's dead. The man then apologises for not being a better dad and tells him to go after the gold.

"I'll see you on the other side" Big John finishes and I look down at John B who's eyes are watering.

John B clicks the stop button on the recorder and stands up walking to the door. He leans on the doorframe and lets out a heartbreaking sob.

"Holy shit, he did it! Big John- He found the Merchant!" JJ exclaims.

"JJ, can you shut the fuck up?!" I snap at the boy in disbelief.

"Sorry" The blonde mumbles and I turn to see Kiara wrap her arms around the boy as he cries.

☁️☁️☁️

We all sit out on the pier, drinking beer as Kiara plays the ukulele. Thunder rumbles in the distance and a slight breeze blows quietly as we listen to the music.

"How much was it again?" JJ asks, interrupting the music.

"Four hundred mil" Pope answers.

There's a short silence before JJ turns to full face us all.

"All right, let's talk the split. Now, before we say 'evenly', may I remind you that I am the only one that can properly defend us from those square groupers who were after us" JJ declares "Protection? Not cheap, okay?"

"Properly" I scoff.

"You haven't trained. You've done zero training" Pope states in disbelief.

"YouTube, bro! That's at least a five percent bump right there" JJ explains.

"You haven't-" Pope is cut off.

"Any objections? Didn't think so" JJ shrugs as Kiara and I hold up our hands.

"Yeah" Pope objects.

"I don't hear any, so..." JJ says, ignoring us all.

"What are you gonna do with your 80 mil, Pope?" Kiara asks the boy.

"Pay for college in advance. And also, textbooks. Those are expensive" Pope answers and I smile.

of course, how very Pope of him

"What about you, Kie?" JJ asks the girl.

"Yeah, what does a socialist do when she's rich?" Pope asks curiously and Kiara chuckles.

"I just wanna make a double album. About OBX, the Pogues. You know, the way 'Catch a Fire' is about Kingston. Record it at Marley Studio, Peter Tosh producing" She smiles as she tells us.

"Peter Tosh is dead" Kiara and Pope say in unison.

"I know. Spirit of Peter Tosh will never die" The girl grins, lifting her can in a salute.

"I know what I'll do. I'm gonna get a big ass house on Figure Eight and go full Kook" JJ announces.

"You're gonna go full Kook?" Pope asks in surprise.

"Yup. Gonna get a marble statue of myself, and then I'm gonna get a koi pond. Put a bunch of those fish-" Kiara cuts JJ off with a smile.

"I'm never visiting" She tells him and we all laugh.

"What about you, Cassie?" Pope asks me.

"Guys I don't need a cut. I'm happy just being here" I assure them.

"What are you gonna do with your cut, Cassandra?" Pope asks firmly and I smile, shaking my head.

"I'm gonna open a centre in the cut for kids who don't have anywhere to go or feel unsafe at home. Then I'm gonna divide the rest up and give it to people in the cut who really need it" I explain.

"That's really cool of you" JJ comments and I shrug.

"I just wanna do the right thing" I reply.

"What are you gonna do, Johnathan?" I ask the Routledge boy.

We all look at him, waiting for an answer and he turns his head to look at us.

"To going full Kook" He grins.

"To going full Kook!" We all cheer

☁️☁️☁️

I toss and turn in my bed, my mind not letting me sleep. I kick my covers off and pull myself out of bed, padding out of my room and down the hall. I knock gently on the door and open it to see Kiara open her eyes.

"Did I wake you?" I whisper.

"No, I couldn't sleep" She whispers back.

She shuffles over and pulls down her covers, giving me an invitation to lay with her. I close the door behind me and climb into bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Kie, can we talk?" I mumble.

"Sure" She replies.

"I'm ready to tell you what happened in New York" I sigh, turning to face her.

"I'm listening" She assures me.

"It all started with a guy, his name was Liam Carter. We met in a nightclub on my 16th birthday and I guess you could say it was love at first sight or whatever that bullshit is. I fell in love with him and he told me he loved me too" I start and Kiara laces her hands together, squeezing my hand in assurance.

"We spent a lot of time at house parties and clubs so I barely went home, but my mom didn't notice because she was never home either. One night after a party we got into a pretty bad accident" I tell her.

"What kind of accident?" She asks curiously.

"A car accident. Liam got behind the wheel extremely high on MDMA and I was too drunk to fight him on it so I just got in the car. My friend Hollie got in the backseat and he started to drive us home. I had recently found out from Hollie's friend Tessa that they had slept together so my drunk self blurted it out and demanded answers. We all got into a huge fight and Liam lost control of the car. It swerved off the road and crashed into a tree. Hollie died on impact" I explain and Kiara gasps.

"Jesus Christ, Cassie" My sister mutters.

"I went through the windscreen and ended up in hospital. My leg was broken in two places, my wrist was fractured, my ribs were severely bruised along with my jaw and I was covered in cuts, a few of which scarred" I sigh and she frowns deeply, worry on her face.

"What about Liam?" She asks.

"He broke his arm and got a black eye" I answer and she nods.

"During my recovery, I was prescribed OxyContin for the extreme amount of pain I was in. As the days went on, I started using the medication even when I wasn't in pain and i'd love the way the high made me feel. The drugs numbed the pain that I felt, physically and emotionally" I say, holding in tears.

"Oh, Cassie" Kiara sighs, grabbing my hands both in hers tightly.

"By the time two months had went past, I was all healed up and addicted to the oxy, but they stoped prescribing me the drugs because I wasn't in anymore physical pain. Liam had started visiting me during my recovery and we patched things up because I had fooled myself into believing he loved me. I told him about my withdrawals from the pain killers and he took me to see his dealer. I got into some pretty heavy drugs, my personal favourite was cocaine or oxy" I laugh unhumorously.

"It was a month after we got back together that he first hit me. The first couple of times weren't so bad, a bruise here and there. It only got worse as time went by, but I loved him and I was too scared to tell anyone" I explain, losing the ability to hold in my tears.

"It was a dark year of my life. I spent most of my time high as a kite in places I didn't know with people I didn't know. The rest of my time was spent hauled up in my room, sobbing in pain and smashing up everything in sight as the withdrawals kicked in. I walked around like a zombie, waiting for my next hit like a fucking junkie" I admit, tears running down my face.

"On my 17th birthday Liam told me he wanted to take me out and celebrate so I got dressed up, I put on my favourite dress and got all dolled up. He promised me it'd be a night i'd never forget, and he was right. That night, I overdosed in the backseat of his car. I started shaking and my lips turned blue, I was struggling to breathe and my vision blurred so I couldn't see anything. I remember Liam telling his friend to help get me out the car and they carried me to the side walk, laying me on the ground. They called the ambulance and left me on the side of the road, all alone" I choke out in between cries and Kiara pulls me into a hug, holding my head to her chest as I cry.

"I blacked out and when I woke up I was in the hospital. They told me I died and they brought me back. I died, Kie. He left me for dead" I sob loudly.

"I'm so sorry, Cassie. Please tell me you had someone with you" My sister sniffles.

"They called my mom but she didn't want to see me, she told them to send me to a rehabilitation facility" I hiccup sadly.

"Didn't you have any friends in New York?" Kiara asks in disbelief.

"No" I whisper, letting out another sob.

"You had to go through all that alone?" She asks me, her voice breaking as tears run down her face.

I nod my head and she chokes out a sob, hugging me tightly.

"All I wanted was to call you and hear you tell me that everything was gonna be okay but they sent me straight to rehab and refused to let me make any calls" I cry into her neck.

"I'm here now, Cassie. Everything's gonna be okay. I promise" She sobs, holding me tightly.

"I'm sorry" I choke out, my throat starting to hurt.

"No, I'm sorry" My sister replies.

A knock is heard on the bedroom door and we both sit up as the door opens to reveal our dad and Anna.

"Oh, girls" He sighs, rushing forward to pull us into a hug.

"It's not fair, dad" Kiara sobs.

"I know, sweetheart" My dad mumbles.

Anna wraps her arms around us too and we all savour the moment as a family.

"It's all over now" Anna assures me, kissing my head.

but is it ever really over?